Richie Springs workout vid w/Coach Sal

[husky429]

There's nothing wrong with the exercises they are doing -- as long as they are done with good form, which they are, and weights are not excessive and are escalated slowly, which is clearly the case, the exercises will improve fitness and reduce injury risk.

If there is a problem, it's much more likely to be on the nutritional side than on the physical training side, where it seems we have good expertise. Repeated daily exercise will break down tissue if the nutrition isn't there to build it back up again.

Akok's fall off in production in the month prior to his injury was a sign that something was wrong and injury risk was high. Perhaps that warning sign should have been heeded more closely.

As for your claim that Akok's injury occurred on a routine play, that's nonsense. He made a leap that places tremendous stress on the Achilles tendon from a forward leaning posture in which the tendon is stretched. That's exactly the kind of play you'd expect such an injury to occur.

It has nothing to do with previous injury and a grueling schedule. You have this wrong. It's because we forgot to stretch

 

[UCSouth]

How many players over 6'8" has Sal worked with over the past year? Carlton, Akok, Polly
and Whaley. You do the math.

Go eat a cheeseburger or something.....

 

[nadav]

Don't like the stress I am seeing on the lower back with a couple of these exercises.
The record: Carlton a step slower and can't jump. Polley out with a torn up knee while
doing a routine jump stop. Akok out with torn achilles after an seemingly harmless jump ball and block. Having torn up my own knee due to a lack of proper warmup and stretching, I think this entire strength and conditioning program needs to reviewed.

I wonder if our staff knows about stretching? Maybe send an email to Sal.

 

[gtcam]

Didn't realize you were an armchair SC coach too. Just because you sneer at the lunk alarm at planet fitness 2x a week doesn't mean you have a clue how to train d1 athletes. Every one of these lifts are pretty basic, normal stuff. Fundamentals done at a high level is the goal.

People like you are 100x worse than nelson and pal to me. Having torn your ACL qualifies you to do nothing. Congrats--you are one of 1,000,000 people who have injured their knee.

The idea that this team doesn't warm up is ludicrous.

Carlton will always be slow. It is mental even more than physical at this point. Not knowing where to be on D and an inability to pass makes you look bad. Teams have figured him out.

6'9 kids with bicep sized legs are injury prone no matter who trains them. What looks "routine" to you isn't. These kids bodies are not normal. That jump stop or block puts a heck of a lot more stress on the body than anything you've dreamed of doing.

Injury rates are high all over college bball.

It happens. Stop being so annoying.

Sharon T was simply expressing an opinion, as we all do here.
You call her opinion annoying yet your reply was nothing less than a snarky retort. Now you are the armchair SC coach? Or by your reaction, are you Sal?
I do not agree with Sharon that there may be a correlation between Polley and Akok's injury and the SC coaching they received - may have had a bit of an impact but unproven in my eyes
I do believe that JC's overall game has been affected by the type of weight gain process and muscle building he undertook during the off season.
Speed being mental is an excuse and false in Carlton's situation. Its not speed he is lacking, it's fluidity and comfort in making adjustments. I have also seen him make some very good passes. I have 25 plus years coaching athletes up to and including the D1 level and have had plenty of them who had blazing speed; yet without being fluid while performing their actions has made them appear clumsy. Carlton is not slow - I have seen him recover with speed when he needs to.
All athletes are prone to injury - no matter the size or physical make-up. I know what proper warm ups look like and watching many pregame rituals I see very little productive stretching in many sports.
A skinny kid with little muscle mass who jump stops or block puts stress on their body also and is just as likely to suffer an injury as 6'9" kids who have bicep sized legs.
BTW- she/he never said the team doesn't warm-up - they alluded to possible lack of proper warm-up stretching
The following things are unneeded IMHO:
Just because you sneer at the lunk alarm at planet fitness 2x a week doesn't mean you have a clue how to train d1 athletes.
People like you are 100x worse than nelson and pal to me. Having torn your ACL qualifies you to do nothing.
Stop being so annoying -If the post annoys you, you have a low tolerance level
RELAX and disagree without throwing spears

 

[CL82]

You call her opinion annoying yet your reply was nothing less than a snarky retort. Now you are the armchair SC coach? Or by your reaction, are you Sal? ...
-If the post annoys you, you have a low tolerance level RELAX and disagree without throwing spears

#unintentionallyironicposts

 

[Huskygrad88]

How many players over 6'8" has Sal worked with over the past year? Carlton, Akok, Polly
and Whaley. You do the math.

Decent troll. You have people passionately responding, so props to that. You could have improved your game had you added detail implying you are also an insider. Perhaps “From what I am hearing from some of the guys, Whaley now refuses to work with Sal because of concerns raised by other players about his methods leading to their injuries”. That would be A+ stuff

 

[Hoophound]

Didn't realize you were an armchair SC coach too. Just because you sneer at the lunk alarm at planet fitness 2x a week doesn't mean you have a clue how to train d1 athletes. Every one of these lifts are pretty basic, normal stuff. Fundamentals done at a high level is the goal.

People like you are 100x worse than nelson and pal to me. Having torn your ACL qualifies you to do nothing. Congrats--you are one of 1,000,000 people who have injured their knee.

The idea that this team doesn't warm up is ludicrous.

Carlton will always be slow. It is mental even more than physical at this point. Not knowing where to be on D and an inability to pass makes you look bad. Teams have figured him out.

6'9 kids with bicep sized legs are injury prone no matter who trains them. What looks "routine" to you isn't. These kids bodies are not normal. That jump stop or block puts a heck of a lot more stress on the body than anything you've dreamed of doing.

Injury rates are high all over college bball.

It happens. Stop being so annoying.

I just wish husky429 would tell us how he really feels and stop beating around the bush.

 

[Palatine]

People have their own opinions, but JFC, don't you think these people we hired know what they are doing?

There are many different views. Back in the 70s, players used to bounce when touching their toes. I watched entire football teams do this pre-game. You never see it anymore because it caused hamstring injuries. There will always be types of exercise that are changed or eliminated as data comes in. Also as guys develop one set muscles it can affect other groups of muscles. Striking a balance is really import. S&C can be as much art as science.

 

[uconngb]

People have their own opinions, but JFC, don't you think these people we hired know what they are doing?

Not unless Chief says so

 

[uconngb]

Sharon T was simply expressing an opinion, as we all do here.
You call her opinion annoying yet your reply was nothing less than a snarky retort. Now you are the armchair SC coach? Or by your reaction, are you Sal?
I do not agree with Sharon that there may be a correlation between Polley and Akok's injury and the SC coaching they received - may have had a bit of an impact but unproven in my eyes
I do believe that JC's overall game has been affected by the type of weight gain process and muscle building he undertook during the off season.
Speed being mental is an excuse and false in Carlton's situation. Its not speed he is lacking, it's fluidity and comfort in making adjustments. I have also seen him make some very good passes. I have 25 plus years coaching athletes up to and including the D1 level and have had plenty of them who had blazing speed; yet without being fluid while performing their actions has made them appear clumsy. Carlton is not slow - I have seen him recover with speed when he needs to.
All athletes are prone to injury - no matter the size or physical make-up. I know what proper warm ups look like and watching many pregame rituals I see very little productive stretching in many sports.
A skinny kid with little muscle mass who jump stops or block puts stress on their body also and is just as likely to suffer an injury as 6'9" kids who have bicep sized legs.
BTW- she/he never said the team doesn't warm-up - they alluded to possible lack of proper warm-up stretching
The following things are unneeded IMHO:
Just because you sneer at the lunk alarm at planet fitness 2x a week doesn't mean you have a clue how to train d1 athletes.
People like you are 100x worse than nelson and pal to me. Having torn your ACL qualifies you to do nothing.
Stop being so annoying -If the post annoys you, you have a low tolerance level
RELAX and disagree without throwing spears

Pot/Kettle

 

[imno1]

When asked about his warm up " A cheetah doesn't stretch before going after its prey" Deion Sanders

 

[BlueMAB]

We have been lucky to the extreme. Polley went down and we had a better player waiting in the wings in Bouk. Akok went down; Whaley came on strong. Players' health is necessary to winning. Everything needs to be examined when injuries occur at this level of play. It 's common sense. We have to know if we are missing something.

I can confirm that you're missing something.

 

[bendm]

Don't like the stress I am seeing on the lower back with a couple of these exercises.
The record: Carlton a step slower and can't jump. Polley out with a torn up knee while
doing a routine jump stop. Akok out with torn achilles after an seemingly harmless jump ball and block. Having torn up my own knee due to a lack of proper warmup and stretching, I think this entire strength and conditioning program needs to reviewed.

i could have sworn this was sarcasm, especially the part where you compare yourself (a middle aged woman?) to these guys, but youre actually serious??

 

[ctchamps]

Is it too soon to get back on topic?

It will be interesting to see what Richie can bring next year. Kid went through a large growth spurt just prior to committing. I believe he was a point guard prior to that spurt. The game I watched was after that growth and it was obvious he was not used to the new height and the new position he played. On the positive side he had great chemistry with Bouknight and demonstrated an above average passing ability. His timing for missed shots is also above average, so as long as he doesn't get pushed around he should be a very good rebounder. Hence S&C are important for him. His absence this season should pay dividends for the future.

Ok folks. You can now resume the hit show.

 

[Rocktheworld]

We have been lucky to the extreme. Polley went down and we had a better player waiting in the wings in Bouk. Akok went down; Whaley came on strong. Players' health is necessary to winning. Everything needs to be examined when injuries occur at this level of play. It 's common sense. We have to know if we are missing something.

Still waiting on your explanation for your concern over low back “strain”; describe what you see in the video that leads you to be concerned

What was the highest weight you saw on that video? I know; I want to see if you can even tell that

 

[Chief00]

Don't like the stress I am seeing on the lower back with a couple of these exercises.
The record: Carlton a step slower and can't jump. Polley out with a torn up knee while
doing a routine jump stop. Akok out with torn achilles after an seemingly harmless jump ball and block. Having torn up my own knee due to a lack of proper warmup and stretching, I think this entire strength and conditioning program needs to reviewed.

Fair observations - cause and effect can never be absolutely proven - but we have a correlation.

For those who doubted Chief??

 

[Chief00]

We have been lucky to the extreme. Polley went down and we had a better player waiting in the wings in Bouk. Akok went down; Whaley came on strong. Players' health is necessary to winning. Everything needs to be examined when injuries occur at this level of play. It 's common sense. We have to know if we are missing something.

I agree - when something bad happens you have a responsibility to exam it to see if the risk of it reoccurring in the future can be reduced. The Achilles injury very early in the game is a classic exhibit A.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

A lot of "Next season..." posts don't factor in Richie, but we all want to know how he's doing. And we all want it to be that he's doing well. Coach Sal thought it was worth posting, so I'll take it as a positive.

Beyond that, this is a forward-looking thread in another way.

A 2020 newcomer posts under a name that hints female, but is it a known? In responses, even the harsh ones, we've seen "she," "he/she," and "they."

#Boneyardgettingwoke

 

[phillionaire]

The ball that he swings upward and then between his legs. Look at the strain puts on the lower back. especially the jerk stop. . Buy a weight of that size and do three repetitions of twenty and get back to me. Let me know how it feels.

you 100% are someone who's never done any serious weight training

 

[Vancat]

wait wait I thought it was supposed to be strenuous

 

[Fatroony5]

The ball that he swings upward and then between his legs. Look at the strain puts on the lower back. especially the jerk stop. . Buy a weight of that size and do three repetitions of twenty and get back to me. Let me know how it feels.

That ball you referred to is called a kettlebell. And the exercise is called a kettlebell swing..... It’s meant to be strenuous, it’s how you develop explosiveness and power. His back is in an acceptable, athletic “neutral” position. We want our athletes to be developing strength, power, and flexibility. That exercise does all of that. We only see what Sal puts out there, but coming to that conclusion from those videos? I’d go rewatch again.

 

[pj]

Google this: Imbalances in the development of muscle and tendon of as risk factor for tendinopathies in youth athletes: a review of current evidence and concepts of prevention.

There are many similar articles on line. The basic concept is the relationship developing muscles and the tendons to which they are attached. Can the tendons support the added strength?

Here is the link: Imbalances in the Development of Muscle and Tendon as Risk Factor for Tendinopathies in Youth Athletes: A Review of Current Evidence and Concepts of Prevention.

Everyone knows the need to increase strength in all components of the body -- the weak link is the one that breaks the chain. But as I've often argued, the most likely problem is nutritional. All Americans, including athletes, commonly eat meat (muscle) but not connective tissue (which typically must be boiled in soups and stews to become digestible). With the decline of cooking, people have become severely deficient in the nutrients needed to make connective tissue, though they have plenty of the nutrients needed to make muscle.

Your comments about the need to tend to tendon and ligament strength, and your concern over the pattern of connective tissue injuries at UConn in recent years including Akok and Polley this year, are reasonable. But it's not reasonable to object to the exercises Richie Springs was doing. Kettlebell swings, properly done as part of a larger exercise regimen, are not going to cause a back injury. Hopefully there are planks and other core exercises in the regimen.

 

[intlzncster]

Carlton will always be slow. It is mental even more than physical at this point. Not knowing where to be on D and an inability to pass makes you look bad. Teams have figured him out.

Don't disagree with your post except on this. The only athletic trait Carlton possesses is strength.

No amount of mental adeptness is going to make him jump higher than his current 6 in ceiling. And he simply moves his feet at a glacial pace, on both defense and offense.

Now yes, he doesn't know what he's got slow instincts as well, and is slow at anticipation, but the dude is flat out unathletic and you can't untrain that.

 

[Rocktheworld]

The ball that he swings upward and then between his legs. Look at the strain puts on the lower back. especially the jerk stop. . Buy a weight of that size and do three repetitions of twenty and get back to me. Let me know how it feels.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that’s a young man swinging at most 40 pounds! He’s rowing with that same weight in each hand later in the video! I’m pretty sure we have those kettlebells (you’re welcome) at my gym; I’ll let you know exactly how terribly heavy that weight is later today.

“Three repetitions of twenty” oh my god it keeps getting worse

 

[Edward Sargent]

Here is the link: Imbalances in the Development of Muscle and Tendon as Risk Factor for Tendinopathies in Youth Athletes: A Review of Current Evidence and Concepts of Prevention.

Everyone knows the need to increase strength in all components of the body -- the weak link is the one that breaks the chain. But as I've often argued, the most likely problem is nutritional. All Americans, including athletes, commonly eat meat (muscle) but not connective tissue (which typically must be boiled in soups and stews to become digestible). With the decline of cooking, people have become severely deficient in the nutrients needed to make connective tissue, though they have plenty of the nutrients needed to make muscle.

Your comments about the need to tend to tendon and ligament strength, and your concern over the pattern of connective tissue injuries at UConn in recent years including Akok and Polley this year, are reasonable. But it's not reasonable to object to the exercises Richie Springs was doing. Kettlebell swings, properly done as part of a larger exercise regimen, are not going to cause a back injury. Hopefully there are planks and other core exercises in the regimen.

If you are trying to say that we need to eat boiled connective tissue to make stronger connective tissue, I have to say your way off the science mark, it doesn't work that way.